[Shibuya's Main Street, Untouchable.]
"'Untouchable' was an airsoft shop owned by a man called Munehisa Iwai. Munehisa Iwai, or 'Iwai-san' as Akira called him was a middle-aged man with grey hair, faint stubble, sideburn and earrings. A tattoo of a gecko was also visible on the left side of his neck. Not only that, he usually has a lollipop in his mouth.
At first glance, Iwai seems like a man you don't want to have any association with. But when you really got to know him, he was actually a nice person to talk with and more.
"Hey, Iwai-san." Akira walked in the airsoft shop and greeted Iwai, "You still open, right?"
"Hm...?" Iwai looked from his newspaper and replied with a small smile, "Oh, it's you Akira."
"So, what do you want today?" He put down the newspaper to the counter desk and asked, "I got some new stuff recently."
"They'll cost 10000 yen at least, right?" Akira jokingly stated, earning a giggle from the shop owner.
"No, about 300 yen average."
"Hmm..." Akira was deep in thought for a moment as he scratches his chin, "I want a revolver, a revolver magnum."
"An interesting choice." Iwai walked into the storage behind the counter and took out a jet black .44 magnum revolver to the counter, "This is based on S&W .44 magnum."
"Or model 629 in another word." Akira took the magnum with a stupid grin on his face, and took aim to the other side of the shop, "This is fantastic! I'll have that."
"A brilliant choice." Iwai took the revolver from Akira's hand and put it back into a box, "Any more?"
"Yeah, I want to have a sniper rifle." Since Shiho said that he would choose the firearm for her, Akira decided to let her have a sniper rifle. "And a one that is easy for an amateur, especially a girl."
"A girl? You're buying that for your girlfriend?" Iwai can't help but try to tease him, earning a slightly blushed face from the young man.
"Well... We're just friends."
"But from that reaction of your's... You have a crush on her, right?"
"Um... Yes." Akira finally gave in and answered with a sigh, "But there's something happened to her recently, and I don't want to push her too much..."
"I get that," Iwai breathed out, playing with his lollipop in his mouth, "You'd be a great person for her, I'm sure."
"Well...thanks, Iwai-san." Akira smiled with relief, but the swiftly changed their topic back to the guns, "So back to the guns..."
"Oh. A sniper rifle that's easy to use for a girl..." Iwai walked into the storage room again and took out a white model gun which looked like an AWM. He put it on the counter and suggested. "Maybe this would suit her."
"Wow... This is perfect for her!" Akira grinned from the sight of the beauty in front of his eyes. He took the sniper rifle and pretended to aim, "I'll take it, thank you Iwai-san!" He exclaimed in joy, putting the sniper rifle back to the counter.
"Your welcome." Iwai put the sniper rifle to another box, then walked to the counter, "So... 5200 yen in total, special discount for you included."
Akira paid for the guns and put the box which contained the magnum to his shoulder bag with the box which contained the sniper rifle to his hand. Leaving 'untouchable' with a goodbye to Iwai.
"Seeya, Iwai-san."
"Seeya kid."
[16th of April, school]
Ren was listening closely to Mr Ushimaru's lecture about the society when his phone suddenly buzzed. With a slight frown on his face, Ren took out his phone and checked who was messaging him.
It's Ryuji in the group chat.
Ryuji: Hey, we're meeting up at the hideout after school, right?
Ren noticed the frown from Ann when she replied to Ryuji.
Ann: Don't text now. We're in class.
Ryuji: Whoa! You mean you're actually listening to all this crap?
Ren: Yep, but I just can't focus on what he is saying...
Ann: Yeah, but nothing of it is really sticking today...
Ryuji: I know, right?
Ryuji: Anyway, hideout after school?
There's a slight pause before Ann replied.
Ann: Where exactly is this 'hideout'?
Ryuji: the school roof.
Ann: Wait, we can still go up there? Even Akira's stopped going up there now.
Ryuji: Yeah, I'll let you in.
Ryuji: Welp, I'll be waiting. Just come on up once school's over.
"Infiltration after school?"Ren looked at Morgana, who hid inside of his drawer with a raised eyebrow and whispered.
The feline just nodded in response.
With a nod of confirmation, Ren typed back to the other two thieves.
Ren: Gotcha.
Ryuji: I'm gonna find you if you're late!
But as the chat between the three thieves was over, Mr Ushimaru's sudden shout caught him by surprise. "Hey, Amamiya!"
"Hey! Pay attention! Is that how you listen when someone's talking to you!" Mr Ushimaru continued his wraith to Ren, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
then out of the sudden, the furious teacher suddenly threw his chalk toward Ren, straight in his forehead. Even Akira, who was studying the map he sketched to prepare their infiltration felt bad for the boy and took out a tube of medicine to him.
"Hey, You're OK?" Akira asked with a worried look.
"I'm fine..." Ren took the medicine and thanked him, "Thanks, Ichijou."
"That's what you get for daydreaming!" Mr Ushimaru shouted in anger, somehow even stronger than before, "Kids these days have no respect for their elders."
"good grief... Looks like you need more proficiency to dodge that." Morgana looked up at Ren for a brief moment before shaking his head in disappointment. Earning an annoyed look from him.
"yeah... I know."
But unaware to both of them, Akira witnessed the whole conversation.
'Is... Is that cat talking?' It took Akira a good few seconds before realising who exactly is that cat. 'Wait... the blue eyes, yellow collar and that voice... It's Morgana!' He thought with disbelief but regained his composture later.
Akira quickly took out his notebook, now changed its name to 'Theif's Notebook' and noted that Morgana is with Ren now in his profile about the feline. "So maybe... I should text Shiho and start the operation today..."
"Nah, I should tell her now." Akira whispered to himself and took out his phone to text Shiho about their business.
Akira: Hey, Shiho.
Akira: I think we should start our infiltration today.
Shiho: Are you sure?
Shiho: Wait! You should be in class right now!
Akira: I'll be fine ;)
Akira: The board meeting will be held on 2nd May, we only have about two weeks to finish this. So we need to act, fast.
Akira: I still got the equipment in my bags, you're only needed to show after school.
Shiho: But would it be weird that I showed up at school when I should be at my home, taking my day off?
Akira: That said to them that I called you out for a date.
Akira: Wait, that sound wrong.
Akira: Whatever, I'll meet you at the front gate, OK?
It's a long while before Shiho finally replied to him.
Shiho: OK. Now back to your lesson, Aki-Chan.
Akira: We've talked about this back in middle school. Stop calling me that.
Shiho: But I want to :P
With a sigh of defeat, Akira pocketed his phone and turned his attention back to Mr Ushimaru's boring lecture.
[After school, School's front gate]
Once the school's over, Akira bolted out of his chair and rushed towards the front gate, making Ann and Ren wondered for his weird action.
"What the-" Ann interrupted herself, still staring at the door of the classroom with awe. "I've never seen Akira be this eager to leave school like, ever."
"Well, never judge a book by its cover." Ren quickly snapped out from his thought and called Ann, "Ann, let's go."
On the other hand, Akira swiftly rushed down to the gate in the shortest route possible and noticed Shiho. She's now wearing a blue T-shirt with 'Swan' written on the chest area with a white sports jacket over the T-shirt, black hot pants and a pair of white trainers with blue highlight.
"Shiho!" Akira greeted her with a big grin and ran up to her. "Sorry for the wait."
"No worries, I just got here for a few minutes." Shiho replied with a small smile on her face, originally intended that he would be late for at least fifteen minutes. "so, let's go?"
"Of course," Akira smirked and took Shiho to the dark alleyway and took out his phone. Quickly tapping the navigator app.
"Beginning Navigation"
[Kamoshida's palace, front enterance]
Once the duo was in the palace, Akira took out the sniper rifle and gave it to Shiho. "So Shiho, this is the gun I bought for you yesterday."
"A sniper rifle?" Shiho took the rifle and examined it closely. "It looked great, but is it real?"
"Nah, it's just a model gun." Akira then took out his revolver and show it to her, "but if we or the shadow believes that these are real. Then it'll fire a real bullet."
"It's kinda complicated..." Shiho aimed with the sniper rifle, try to get a grip with it. "Um... Akira, how much are these guns? I want to pay you back for these..." She asked.
"You don't need to repay for them, my monthly allowance is well enough to handle these purchases." Akira spun his revolver for a few times before putting it back to the holster, a genuine smile on his face. "Consider it as a gift for you."
"...Thanks, Akira." Shiho thanked with a look of disbelief.
Akira suddenly remembered that they shouldn't call each other in this world. After all, they're Phantom Thief, unofficial or not. "Please, call me Jester." he requested.
"What? We're now calling each other in codenames?" Shiho was dumbfounded at Jester's sudden word. "I admit, Jester is cool..."
"You should get one too, Shiho." Jester suggested.
After a few seconds of consideration, Shiho agreed with a nod. "OK, So...what codename should I choose?"
"Uh..." Jester thought for a moment, "Pure?"
"That's...weird. At least in my case."
"Um... If no then..." Jester was in deep thought again for a good fifteen seconds before something hit his mind. "Oh! How about 'Swan'?"
"Swan?" Shiho asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why?"
"Well, first your outfit's colour is mostly white, and your mask is a birdlike mask..." Jester explained with a thoughtful look. "And I remembered that you're T-shirt also have the word 'Swan' on it..."
"Swan... I'll take it." Shiho accepted Jester's suggestion with a small smile, "Let's go then, Jester?"
"After you."
With that said, the duo quickly entered the castle through the air vent on the castle's wall and entered the West Building.
They entered the first floor of the West Building, they noticed that only one door in the north wasn't blocked by metal bars and decided to push open the wooden door. Noticed that two guards are patrolling the kitchen area, they swiftly took cover behind one of those tables.
Jester pulled out a small silver box with a square button on the side and gave it to Swan. "This is a grappling hook I made for you last night." He stated, sounded serious.
"You made this?!" Swan took the grappling hook and examined it, "T-Thanks." She said with disbelief.
Jester only nodded in response. "Press the button to fire the wire to an enemy or wall, press again to pull yourself toward whatever the hook attached to, again to release the hook back to the body." He continued to explain.
"OK, I... think I get it now." Swan readied her grappling hook peeked around towards the shadow.
"This is the plan, Swan," Jester whispered, took out his grappling hook as well. "You take the left one while I got the right one. Just climb on their back and rip off their mask."
"OK." With a nod of confirmation, Swan aimed her grappling towards the incoming guard, waiting for his command.
"3... 2... 1... Now!"
With Jester's command, the thief duo fired their hook to the back of those two guards, pulling the duo toward them. With perfect synchronization, Swan and Jester ripped the mask and jumped back to the ground, standing side by side.
the guards twitched uncontrollably before dissolving into two pile of black goo, then a group of two Succubus and three Kelpie appeared in front of them. With no hesitation, Jester summoned Moriarty and fired a shot toward one of the Succubus, knocking her down.
Taking this as an opportunity, Jester quickly fired another bullet toward another Kelpie, dealing some damage. Swan then summoned Jeanne and attacked the knocked Succubus with a Giant Slice, killing it.
The two Kelpie then cast two Garu toward the duo, a barrage of wind attacking them but was unsuccessful as Jester covered Swan's body with his. Only took a small amount of damage as he resists wind attack.
"Moriarty! Magaru!"
A wave of Wind strikes the group of shadows, severely injuring the two Succubus while killing the other two Kelpie in the process. "Swan! Your turn now!"
"I know!" With a smirk on her face, Swan summoned Jeanne again. "Let's finish this! Makouha!"
An arrow formed entirely by light hit the two Succubus, knocking them down while almost killing them.
Swan and Jester looked at each other for a brief moment. Without a word, they jumped into the air and strike the shadows from all directions with no mercy. Then Jester came back down to the ground, playing with his scythe, he greeted farewell as the shadow dissolved into nothing.
"Arrivederci."
Once the battle is over, the duo noticed that those fallen shadows had left some money and healing item on the ground and picked them up.
"This could recover our injuries," Jester examined the medicine in his hand and turned to Swan. "in case you're knocked down or unable to fight." He said jokingly.
"I think you'll be the one who got knocked down before me," Swan replied, also jokingly. "Since you always took those attack for my sake."
It took a few second before Jester finally realised that Swan meant and rubbed his neck, blushing slightly. "Maybe you're right."
With a victorious grin on her face, Swan quickly ran toward the door and pushed it open. There is only one shadow patrolling this area. Swan, who was on the lead, quickly dashed to it's back and ripped its mask, revealing a single Agathion
"Moriarty! Revolver Shot!"
"Jeanne! Zio!"
The two Persona fired a bullet and cast a bolt of lightning towards the blue apprentice. Unfortunately, their attack only about to deal a small amount of damage to it. The apprentice cast a Zio toward Jester in return, knocking him down and dealt a considerable amount of damage.
The apprentice taking it as another chance and attacked Swan, but she dodged its attack by leaping to aside. She clutched her sabre and impaled the Agathion in the head.
"Giant Slice!" Swan commanded his Persona with a roar and Jeanne quickly slashed the shadow in half with her long sword, killing it.
Once the shadow was killed, Swan rushed to Jester's side and helped him up. "Dia." Jester felt a sense of energy rushed through his body, healing his earlier injuries.
"I'm good now." Jester stretched himself and gave her a reassuring smile. "Let's continue, shall we?"
With a nod, the duo continued their infiltration.
[After a while, Yongen-jaya Backstreets]
After their meeting on the school rooftop, Ren was dragged back to Yongen-Jaya from Morgana's request.
"So..." Ren frowned slightly as he's now back in where he's from. "Why were back in here?"
"Ren, remember that customer you met at Leblanc yesterday?" Morgana poked his head from Ren's shoulderbag and asked. "the doctor who prescribes medication after a quick examination? She was sitting at the booth..."
"Yeah, I remember that." Ren replied with a nod, memories from yesterday start to crawl back to the surface. "That goth lady, right?"
"I just realized something." Morgana said, "If she's the kind of doctor who gets sketchy rumours like that, maybe she'll help us out."
"She's somewhere in the neighbourhood, right? Take me to her."
"But she won't understand you, Morgana." Ren just frowned again from the feline's word, not sure that this would work or not.
Morgana just glared down at him. With a defeated sigh, Ren followed his request and walked around for a short while until they reach a building with the only clinic in the area, presumably the clinic of that doctor.
But once they reached the clinic, Morgana suddenly spoke again. "Now, how can we get them to give us some medicine...?"
"We'll make something up." Ren pushed his glasses, internally hoping this would go smoothly.
"...Well, I guess that's the only choice we have." Morgana said.
They called the elevator and went up. Once they reached the second floor, they noticed the small signboard next to a blue door which said 'Takemi Medical Clinic'. Ren swallowed and turned open the door, entering the clinic.
The clinic's waiting room was brightly lit, a small bathroom at the end. And next to the door was the receptionist window, where a lady with neck-length blue hair with a lab coat stayed.
"...Is this your first visit?" The lady noticed Ren approached and asked languidly.
Upon closer inspection, the lady seems to wear a spiked collar around her neck with a few more thin necklaces with it, a short grey dress an a pair of black high heels.
"Yes..." Ren answered, still nervous from the fact that he needs to lie to this beautiful lady.
"Hm?" The doctor looked at Ren for a moment before saying languidly again. "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before..."
"At Leblanc." Ren answered with the best smile he can.
The lady just tiredly nodded at Ren's response. "Hmmm... Well, whatever..."
"So, what are you here today?" She continued.
'Ugh... What should I say...' After two seconds of brainstorming, Ren smoothly lied to her. "I've been having nightmares."
"..." the doctor narrowed her eyes at Ren, but then sighed in the end. "...fine."
She pointed to the door at Ren's right and instructed, "Please head to the exam room."
Ren sweatdropped, but followed her instruction and entered the exam room. After a series of question from the doctor, which Ren smoothly lied (With the help from Morgana).
"...In a case like yours, it's usually just due to stress." After the questions were asked, the doctor checked the symptoms and stated. "I'm going to prescribe you some pain relievers, OK?"
Ren only nodded in response, holding back a sigh of relief.
But the doctor suddenly remembered about something and sighed. "Actually, I still need to restock those..." She murmured.
"So let's go with sleeping pills instead. Sleep is the best medicine anyway." the doctor quickly changed the prescription to 'Sleeping pill'. "which type of pill do you want, a sweet-tasting one or a bitter one?"
'Are you serious...' Ren internally cursed at his own unluckiness, biting his lip.
"That all you have...?" Ren noticed the angry look from the doctor, instantly regretting his choice of word.
"Huh...? You're the patient here, you know." She put down the clipboard and stared at him in the eyes. "Do you think you should be telling me how to do my job?"
After a few second of thought, she 'Tch'ed and murmured, "...So, it's just like I thought."
"You're not sick at all, are you?" She put the clipboard back to the table aside and continues to stare at him. "I'm not as dumb as I look, you know."
Seeing Ren's apologetic look, the doctor's feature softened, "...I'm guessing you're here because you heard the rumours about me, huh?"
Ren at this point had no other choice but be honest, "Are those rumours true?"
Hearing her response, the doctor sighed and crossed her leg, "Who's to say? But as a result, all I get are patients with ulterior motives now."
"I guess high school kids have it tough nowadays too, huh?" She leaned in closer to him, the word 'interested' written on her face.
"Well, fine. I'll prescribe you some medication." She noticed the look of disbelief and nodded, "But only medication that will help you recover your health."
"I guess it's fine. You seem pretty earnest, and you don't look like you'll be in any trouble." The doctor looked down and murmured, "Kinda reminded me with guinea pig..."
"back to the topic." She quickly snapped out from her thought and rubbed her neck out of tiredness. "This is my private practice. All the medicine I dispense is original."
"I have a license to make my own formulas. You've likely seen them being sold at various hospitals." the doctor explained. "It's your responsibility to take care of yourself. So if that's OK with you, stop by anytime."
With a nod from Ren, they had made a deal. The doctor- Tae Takemi would sell him medicines. But in returns, he needed to be her test subject or 'guinea pig' as she called it.
After the deal was made. Ren walked out from the exam room and ready to leave, the sight of someone else halted him.
"What, Ren?" Morgana poked his head out to look at what Ren was seeing, "Wha-"
It was Akira.
"Um... Hey, Amamiya." Akira awkwardly laughed, rubbing his neck. "Didn't expect you to be here."
"Hey, Ichijou..." Ren just waved back in the same awkward way, "Didn't expect you to be here too."
Then just silence, silence between the two boys.
"Oh, guinea pig! It's been a while!" Takemi suddenly said with enthusiasm, making the two boys jumped in surprise at the same time.
"Oh hey, Takemi-san." Akira quickly turned his attention to the goth doctor and greeted with a smile. "Um... I want to buy some medicine."
"Then please into the exam room, as always." Takemi pointed at the exam room again, this time with a small smile. "But I'll let you two talked for a bit before what you came back in."
"Well, I'll be quick." After Takemi was inside the exam room, Akira turned his attention back to Ren, "So... You're also here for some medicine?"
"Yeah..." Ren coughed and pushed his glasses again, "So you know her?"
"Yep, since I had many fights with Kamoshida back then, I have to find some medicine that could heal me fast." Akira winced from those memories but quickly regained his composure. "So now I am a 'guinea pig' for her new medicine."
"New medicine?" Ren wondered.
"I don't know the details, but I think it's for someone who is in need." Akira patted his shoulder to calm him down. "She seems like those people who have a really bad lifestyle, but she is a good person in heart."
"Well, see you on Monday, Amamiya." he then headed toward the exam room, but then remembered something, "Also, just call me Akira."
Ren turned around and nodded, "Well, you can call me Ren too."
Akira just smiles in return and entered the exam room.
However, Morgana who was inside of Ren's bag frowned from Akira's word, something's not right about him.
"His voice seems familiar for some reason... Have I heard it somewhere else before?"
And with this, chapter 5 of P5: Another Thief finished!
So I want to add some back story of Akira in here. First, he's lived his apartment alone in Yongen-Jaya, which the Kirijo Group bought for him, for about 2 years, with an allowance of about 200000 yen each month from Mitsruru herself.
But why would he lived alone for 2 years... I cannot talk about it since it's a spoiler.
The next chapter:
both the duo of Jester and Swan and Phantom Thief fully started their infiltration of Kamoshida's palace. But as they are infiltrating at the same time and the same place, this is not going to be easy for both of them...
Hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!
